Bird flu epidemic expected to raise poultry costs, exacerbating economic burden of food inflation
by: J. D. Heyes
NaturalNews.com
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Millions of chickens and turkeys in a number of states have been stricken by the latest bird flu outbreak, decimating entire flocks in what analysts believe will lead to spiking poultry prices in the coming months.
In the upper Midwest, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota are the latest states to have been affected by the bird flu outbreak. By the time Iowa Governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency there just a few days ago, 16 million egg-laying chickens had tested positive for the virus; Iowa is the country’s top egg-producing state. The outbreak is so bad in Wisconsin that Governor Scott Walker has activated National Guard troops to help authorities dispose of the dead poultry.
As further reported by RT.com:
Two strains of avian influenza have been detected in farms across the US since it was first discovered in December. The H5N2 strain is in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. The H5N8 strain has been identified in California and in Idaho. The outbreak could lead to extermination of up to 21 million chickens and turkeys nationwide.
As a result of the flu, scores of countries have imposed import bans on U.S. poultry. In sum, the loss of millions of birds and eggs along with the curbs on global poultry sales are likely to lead to skyrocketing poultry prices in the coming months, leading to even more food inflation as tens of millions of Americans continue to struggle economically.
Prices will continue to go up, not down
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